From the Liveblog of
Monday, July 29, 2024
Maduro declared winner in Venezuelan election, but opposition and neighbors reject result
CARACAS, Venezuela – Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election, but the opposition and key regional neighbors immediately reject the official results.
Maduro won re-election with 51.2 percent of votes, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received 44.2%, the electoral council announces.
Maduro, 61, addresses supporters at the presidential palace minutes after the announcement to celebrate the declaration from his loyalist electoral authority.
“I can say, before the people of Venezuela and the world, I am Nicolas Maduro Moros, the re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Maduro says.
But Venezuela’s opposition coalition insists it has garnered 70% of the vote, rejecting the figures from Maduro’s loyalist electoral authority.
“We want to say to all of Venezuela and the world that Venezuela has a new president-elect and it is (candidate) Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia,” opposition leader Maria Corina Machado tells journalists, adding: “We won.”
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves also denounces the official result as “fraudulent,” while Chile’s president describes it as “hard to believe.” Peru announces it has recalled its ambassador for consultation over the results.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expresses “serious concerns” that the result did not reflect the will of Venezuelan voters.
Independent polls had predicted yesterday’s vote would bring an end to 25 years of “Chavismo,” the populist movement founded by Maduro’s socialist predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.
